Pacquiao and Marquez back in action in doubleheader on April 20th

By Allan Fox: A big April 20th doubleheader pay per view fight card featuring Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao in separate bouts is being planned by Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, according to the Manila Bulletin. Pacquiao wants to return in April and his 90 day medical suspension will end by April 20th, letting him return to the ring for action.

The idea for this doubleheader is to give both Pacquiao and Marquez tune-up fights to get ready for a fifth fight between them in September.

Pacquiao is on board with this, and Marquez is being contacted through his promoter Fernando Beltran to see if he would be open to fighting on that date.

Although Pacquiao has been ordered not to spar during his 90-day suspension, he can train and get in his sparring in the last part of training camp, Arum says. In fact, it might actually better for Pacquiao not to get as much sparring for his next fight because he does an awful lot of sparring and those sessions have got to have a draining effect on him or any fighter for that matter. WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez doesn’t believe in doing a lot of sparring for his fight, and he seems to do quite well despite not sparring a lot. That might be something Pacquiao should think about.

Pacquiao reportedly is anxious to get back in the ring to try and redeem himself after his 6th round knockout loss to Marquez on December 8th last month. Pacquiao doesn’t want to wait until September before he fights again, as he wants to fight twice in 2013 and if he fights in September, that would mean that he’d only get one fight in for the year.

Pacquiao has already been cleared to fight after having an MRI conducted on him. He’ll likely get checked out at the Cleveland Clinic in Las Vegas, Nevada as a double check.

As for whom Pacquiao and Marquez will be facing, it’s still unknown at this point. Marquez generally doesn’t risky opponents when fighting tune-up bouts, and Arum will likely opt for a non-puncher for Pacquiao – or at least he should choose a non-puncher. It would be dangerous to put Pacquiao in with a big puncher in his next fight due to how badly he was knocked out by Marquez.

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